Crime-ridden San Francisco recently cleaned up its notoriously dirty streets for a visit by China’s Communist leader, Xi Jinping.
That didn’t mean the crime went away. Such was the lesson learned by a news crew this week.
The UK’s Daily Express US reported, “Czech TV journalist Bohumil Vostal found himself in a tense situation as he aimed to capture a striking scene: the renowned City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, immersed in the dimming twilight.”
The foreign journo was about to learn all about crime in California.
A ‘Harrowing Robbery’
The report continued:
Vostal and his cameraman fell victim to a harrowing robbery, orchestrated by three masked assailants wielding guns. The incident, occurring at 5 p.m. on Columbus Avenue, resulted in the theft of equipment and valuable footage worth over $18,000. The perpetrators targeted the journalists despite the heightened international attention drawn by the APEC summit, which gathered leaders from 21 economies…
However, the stolen equipment and footage left Vostal and his crew scrambling to replace lost material. Despite the swift response of police officers arriving within a minute after the 911 call, the robbers managed to escape. Vostal noted the sympathetic response from both the police and San Francisco residents, expressing a sense of collective responsibility for the unfortunate incident.
San Francisco officials and others have pretended that the city doesn’t have an elevated crime problem, citing statistics that show violent crime has remained stable compared to recent years – but homicides are up and property crime, among the most visible of crimes – is up.
The Daily Express reported noted, “While the APEC summit aims to foster better dialogue between the U.S. and China, incidents like the robbery bring attention to San Francisco’s challenges, including crime and safety concerns.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Charles Stimson says the truth about the city’s crime problem lies beyond mere stats.
“Crime is worse than the data shows,” Stimson told Fox News in April.
He continued, “People do not report these crimes because when you have a DA who’s pro criminal and not going to enforce the law, the cops aren’t going to go out and arrest somebody when they know the case is going to be no papered.”
Joe Rogan: San Francisco is like a failed state’
On an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience this week, the host said, “San Francisco is like a failed state.”
“No one’s stopping anybody from doing anything,” Rogan continued. “It’s crazy how quick San Francisco has (declined). Everyone’s pulling out of there. Hotels are pulling out. Chains like Walgreens are pulling out.”
Rogan’s guest, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, agreed, saying that so many businesses have left downtown San Francisco at this point that “it’s becoming a ghost town.”
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